After Game 1 of the Nuggets-Mavericks series, the visiting quarters at the Pepsi Center looked more like a MASH unit than a locker room. On one side of the area, Mavs center Erick Dampier hobbled from his space to the shower area, each halting step looking more painful than the first.

But an even bigger hurt — both in the here and now and perhaps for the rest of the Western Conference semifinal series — belonged to Mavs forward Josh Howard.

After missing 30 games during the regular season, many because of an injured left ankle, Howard almost literally didn’t have a good leg to stand on after Sunday’s 109-95 loss. A second-quarter collision with Denver’s Chauncey Billups left Howard writhing on the court with another injury — this time to his right ankle. Although he would return to the game, Howard clearly wasn’t the same; for the day he finished with 15 points and hit 7-of-16 shots, but instead of his customary slashes to the basket, Howard largely settled for outside jumpers.

The reason was apparent just watching Howard trying to navigate his way through the visiting quarters.

“I wouldn’t wish this on nobody. It feels like I’m walking on pins and needles,” he said.

Almost everyone connected with the Mavericks feels Howard was the most valuable player in their opening-round series win over San Antonio. If his physical woes continue, that would make matters that much harder for Dallas.

Front and center.

A standup guy, Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd said the 20 turnovers suffered by his team were a major factor in Dallas’ loss Sunday and were largely his fault.

“We have to catch the ball first before we even start thinking about making moves or anything else, and just take better care of the ball,” said Kidd, who committed eight turnovers. “That falls onto my hands. I take responsibility for that.”

Best-laid plans.

Unlike the New Orleans Hornets, who seemed paralyzed by how overwhelmingly well the Nuggets played in the opening round, it was clear Sunday that Dallas was intent on not letting Denver go off on any extended runs.

In the second half, whenever the home team began to spurt, the Mavericks tried to stem the building momentum by taking a timeout. That proved useful throughout the third quarter, but Dallas was unable to sustain the ploy in the early going of the fourth quarter, largely because of its eight turnovers in the period.

“The coaches may have wanted to use the timeouts, but we’re a veteran team that knows how to do things like get a basket to stop what the other team is doing,” Kidd said. “For the most part, I thought we had that part of the game under control, but we just let it get away in the fourth quarter.”

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